After his last outing in the teenybopper romance, Student Of The Year 2, Tiger Shroff is back to his forte — action — with War. Not only that, for the first time, he shares screen space with his idol, Hrithik Roshan, who incidentally plays his mentor in the film. “It was a learning experience. This was as close to him as I could possibly get,” exults the Heropanti hero. Here, he tells us why action is his favourite genre, working with the Super 30 star and how he tried to impress him between the shots.
ACTION HAS GIVEN ME IDENTITY
Tiger, who has created a niche for himself as the action hero with the Baaghi franchise, says it is his favourite genre. “I am blessed that action has given me an identity — I get to reach out to a lot more people. The audiences have accepted me because of this genre, so I’m really lucky filmmakers are choosing me to do action roles,” he smiles.
SLEEK AND URBAN
The 29-year-old says that whether it’s Baaghi or any other action film that he’s done, the characters he played were massy with punchlines. “War also has action that will appeal to the masses, but it’s sleek, cool, urban and international. I haven’t dressed or performed like this in any of my films earlier. My character is raw, real and vulnerable,” he elaborates.
HUGE CANVAS
Comparing his face-off with Hrithik to Hollywood films, Tiger says that it’s like Mission Impossible Vs James Bond or Superman Vs Batman. “It’s the biggest battle. Director Siddharth Anand and the producers have gone all out filming at exotic locations. An entire bridge was shut down to film a chase sequence where I’m running after Hrithik sir, we also shot on icebergs in Finland. We have fought on land, ice and air, it will be a visual spectacle for the audiences,” he enthuses.
DANCING THROUGH EVERY FIGHT
Talking about his prep, the SOTY 2 actor tells us he and Hrithik had good rehearsal time before major action set pieces. “Both of us are dancers, we know each other’s rhythms and bodies. Through every fight we were sort of dancing with each other — it was so well-coordinated. We had a great give-and-take relationship. I couldn’t have asked for a better dance partner/action hero,” smiles Tiger.
CHALLENGE WORKING WITH MY HERO
Recalling the day he was approached for the film, Tiger says, “When Adi sir (Aditya Chopra) and Sid sir offered me the role, I was jumping inside but couldn’t show my excitement at getting an opportunity to work with my hero.
Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff
Even when we started shooting, I couldn’t believe it. I was also under a lot of pressure because the reason I do what I do was in front of me and I had to perform and try to match him scene-by-scene. For me, that was the challenge, and at the same time exciting,” he says.
HRITHIK IS A GIVING ACTOR
Tiger can’t contain his excitement at working with his hero. “I watched how he works, how much attention he gives to details for every shot. Now, I realise why he is so perfect in everything. He gave me ideas to better the film or my character, which was very sweet of him. He used to direct me in some shots. I am grateful that he is such a giving actor to even his co-actors,” he gushes.
NO INSECURITIES
While ego hassles, insecurities and fights are associated with two-hero films, Tiger says in their case there was no room for it. “Hrithik sir is already an established hero. He is at another level and there wouldn’t be any sense of insecurity. I have been inspired by him my whole life, ever since I was in school. For me, standing in the same frame as him was a victory in itself,” he clarifies.
MATCHING STEPS WITH THE DANCING SENSATION
Recently, the makers released the song Jai Jai Shivshankar, which has the two actors dancing to it, and Tiger says shaking a leg with Hrithik was a dream come true. “I learnt dancing by watching his songs when I was younger. Every night, I used to watch one of his songs before going to sleep and by next morning, I would get his steps, though not to his perfection. As I said, I used to idolise him and his dance especially,” he shares. So much so that in between shots, Tiger would perform on the Kaabil hero’s old songs. I would do a step and ask him to guess the track! This way I performed all his songs,” the actor laughs.
WILL JUMP AT WAR 2
Post War, Tiger has Baaghi 3 and Rambo in the pipeline. While he will start shooting for the third instalment of Baaghi soon, Rambo will go on the floors in March next year. Ask him if he is open to doing any more multi-hero films and he says, “It depends on the script. But, if there is a War 2 happening, I will jump at it.”
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